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Saturday, August 3, 2013

Psalm 23 - Part 6 - Conclusion

Yesterday I shared about being unafraid, no matter where in the world my travels take me.

Also because of my travels, now more than over, I am so very acutely aware of the greenness of my home pasture, and the overwhelming abundance of the goodness and mercy that surround me.

I see it in the way God's blessings overflow on the trip themselves and the relationships that have emerged from them, and I’ve seen it in the ridiculous amount of richness which is so often invisible and taken for granted in the context of my American lifestyle. And as crazy as it may sound, I really struggle with that at times.

But there in my struggle to reconcile these things together, when my heart feels attached to and torn between so many places and people, when I feel guilty about where I get to live and the smallness of the things I feel like I can do in comparison to such great needs – God is right there to breathe peace into my chaos.

He takes my troubled heart that yearns so desperately to change the world and meet each need and leads me beside still waters. Yes, I live in a green pasture. He makes me lie down there. I am right where he wants me to be and he will continue to lead me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

He reminds me that “my cup overflows” is not just true for me, it’s true for all of those He shepherds.

It is not my job to solve every problem or meet every need, but to be obedient to his voice and his leading. After all, if I can feel these things this keenly, how much more does he feel them and long to lavish his extravagant love and provision on his children? He frees me from my burden and reminds me he can handle all the heavy lifting.

So let me just conclude by saying: For me, for my father, for my ever expanding spiritual family, I know “the Lord is our shepherd,” and that keeps me relentlessly optimistic.